American v British literature

[Idris2002]

Rohinton Mistry shows up Rushdie for the meretricious hack he really is.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Great depth in postwar US writers. Carson McCullers, Richard Ford, Oates, Baldwin, Mailer, Vidal, Munro, etc etc....

 

[Leica]

And now it's going to bother me, although hopefully not for years.

I've found the book, it's McTeague by Frank Norris. Interestingly, Erich von Stroheim's film Greed was based on it.

 

[Brockway]

hmm, i wouldn't like to pick. i look at people like barnes, kelman, gray, winterson, rushdie, carter, coe, gaiman, ackroyd, ballard, amis, rushdie, ishiguro, banks, self, seth, swift, and more i'm sure i could come up with if i tried, and i think to myself, where's the crisis?
!

There's quite a lot of middle-class wank in there. Will Self? You're taking the piss aren't you?

The Yanks win hands down.

 

[Haller]

1984 - George Orwell
The Titus Groan trilogy - Mervyn Peake
The Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight - Henry Williamson
Edge of Violence - John Summers

Don't know anything from America that could compete with any of 'em. Though Robertson Davies is up there as a one-man Canadian tradition.

 

[Orangesanlemons]

I've found the book, it's McTeague by Frank Norris. Interestingly, Erich von Stroheim's film Greed was based on it.

Aha, well done!

(never heard of him...)

 

[Fledgling]

"Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck. A brilliant book. But last year I had occasion to visit the real Cannery Row in Monterray, CA, and it is rubbish.

Cannot agree more, full of John Steinbeck teatowells and John Steinbeck designer outlets and John Steinbeck's souvenir shops. Totally ruins the Cannery Row experience. I think Tortilla Flat is covered in high price real estate so the whole area has lost what Steinbeck wrote about. But Doc's lab is still there and looking a bit forgotten.

 

[Sid's Snake]

both sides of the atlantic have superb life-changing writers. !

"This book will Change Your Life!!!"

Has a book ever changed your life?

 

[lighterthief]

Leica: "Sweet Thursday"? Sequel to Cannery Row, written by Steinbeck (duh), not as good (imo) but it does have as a fairly central theme Doc's search for love.

 

[Leica]

Leica: "Sweet Thursday"?

Read my previous post on this thread (#33)

 

[Neva]

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[Neva]

deleted

 

[bluestreak]

There's quite a lot of middle-class wank in there. Will Self? You're taking the piss aren't you?

The Yanks win hands down.

yes, because the american working class is producing great works of fiction as well. will self is a great writer, regardless of if you like him or not, or which class he comes from.

 

[Leica]

Also why is everyone limiting themselves to Novels, that's the Yanks strength.

Beckett's 'Waiting For Godot' (1952) and 'Endgame' (1957) are better than any American theatrical production yet written and, in my opinion, 'Godot' will stand the test of time better than all of America's 20th century literary titans bar Pynchon. Thoughts?

Have you heard of Tennessee Williams? Eugene O'Neil?

 

[jms]

Does Martin Amis count as US or UK.

And more importantly, does it actually matter.

 

[floopadelic]

Beckett's 'Waiting For Godot' (1952) and 'Endgame' (1957) are better than any American theatrical production yet written and, in my opinion, 'Godot' will stand the test of time better than all of America's 20th century literary titans bar Pynchon. Thoughts?

In what sense is Samuel Beckett's work 'British' ? He was an Irishman who lived most of his life in France as you no doubt know very well

 

[Sid's Snake]

In what sense is Samuel Beckett's work 'British' ? He was an Irishman who lived most of his life in France as you no doubt know very well

He is for all the world floopy, all the world